Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Fort Pulaski took a beating from Hurricane Matthew, but worked hard to bounce back

Water poured in from flooded dike system (NPS photo)

Saturday’s
Park Day – a nationwide service project organized by the Civil War Trust –
comes as Fort Pulaski National Monument nears a critical point in its recovery
from last October’s Hurricane Matthew. It’s transitioning from six months of
recovery to fully focusing on its mission of educating visitors about this
important siege early in the war. The fort is looking for volunteersto help
clear a popular trail and vegetation that morning. Joel Cadoff, spokesman and chief of
interpretation, this week spoke with the Picket about the $1.8 million in
damage and efforts to get the park near Savannah, Ga., back on its feet.

BATTENING DOWN THE HATCHES

As the hurricane approached, its exact target unknown,
the staff removed items from the floor and secured facilities. “Everybody was
in pure prep mode,” Cadoff said. The park, aware that the site was susceptible
to flooding, had a week before sent most of the park’s collection to Fort
Frederica National Monument on St. Simons Island, south of Savannah.

Lee drawing's (NPS)

Among the
items that made the trip were drawings of wildlife on Cockspur Island by a
young Robert E. Lee when he was a lieutenant stationed at Fort Pulaski, and
clothing belonging to Union Brig. Gen. Quincy Adams Gillmore, in charge of the
1862 victorious siege of Pulaski.

THE
DEVASTATION

The park was closed when Matthew made landfall on Oct. 8.
The staff was at first optimistic that Pulaski had weathered the storm with
minimal to moderate damage. “One of the (aerial) images showed the masonry fort
surrounded by water, but the inside looked dry other than one of the pecan
trees having been uprooted,” said Cadoff.

But an early inspection showed two bridges crossing the
moat and leading to the fort had been washed away. (One of those wooden bridges
was found just last month, several hundred yards away.)

Location of washed-away bridge

(NPS photos)

The parade ground had endured up to 18 inches of water,
and the ranger office and restroom in the fort were damaged by water. “Every
park feature was affected one way or the other,” said Cadoff. The visitor
center and maintenance shop also received water and heating and air systems
were damaged.

Some 300 trees were down across the site.

Designed by Lee, a dike system outside Fort Pulaski allowed for tide
control and drainage that aided in the construction before the Civil War.The
system was built to handle a 12-foot tide, but Matthew pushed in several inches
more – and the water had to go somewhere. “Basically you had water pouring in.”

It could have been worse – during a
storm in the 1890s, lighthouse keepers had to deal with 5 feet of
water inside the brick fort.

(NPS photo)

THE SLOW
ROAD TO RECOVERY

Fort Pulaski was closed for about a
month as initial cleanup began. That included everything from removing muck to
clearing trees and other debris. “It wasn’t safe to have visitors,” Cadoff
said. A National Park Service team came in days after Matthew left and helped
do triage.

When the fort reopened in November (photo, above), only
guided programs were conducted. (Visitors since then have been able to wander about,
as they did before Matthew.)

The staff no longer uses office space in
the fort and the only restroom is at the visitor center. The facility inside
the fort won’t be replaced.

About 90 percent of the wooden floors in the casemates
were displaced by Matthew. The team reset the timbers and replaced any that had
rotted over the years.

SITUATION
TODAY

When asked to rate how much the site has bounced back to
what it was pre-Matthew, Cadoff gave a figure of 85-90 percent. Visitors still
notice the tree losses and some trails remain closed.

One of two teams in Saturday morning’s Park Day will
focus on the popular 1.-7 mile Lighthouse Trail, which goes from the visitor
center, past the fort and to near the famous Cockspur Island Lighthouse.

The park will restore living history programs in the fall. A group of authentic Civil War re-enactors plans to hold a Confederate garrison event in April 2018 to help Pulaski "get back in the saddle."

MOVING
FORWARD

Cadoff said Hurricane Matthew is a reminder that such
rare storms in Georgia can come along: “It can happen, it will happen again.”
He said the staff was as ready as it could be, but “there is always room for
improvement.”

Was there a positive side? Cadoff believes so. Tthere has been strong moral support from those reviewing recovery updates on
the park’s social media.

Seventeen staff members, who had to deal with the storm’s
impact on their own homes, put in a ton of work to clean up and move Fort Pulaski
forward.